JB: At the virtual End of the Universe, Galactus is confronted by a Watcher. This Watcher turns out to be the same one who witnessed the "birth" of Galactus in our universe. The Watcher (not Uatu) was eventually driven mad by the accumulated guilt he feels for the acts of Galactus. He has been trying to move galaxies to somewhere Galactus cannot find them, but has been destroying them in the process. Galactus and the Watcher battle -- a huge cosmic confrontation that stretches over centuries, as the universe falls into near total entropy. Finally, to defeat the Watcher, Galactus sucks all the remaining energy out of the Universe. Nothing is left but Galactus and his loyal herald, Nova. Realizing at last what his purpose is, Galactus cracks the seal on his suit, starts to remove his helmet, and in that instant all the energy he has absorbed explodes out of him. He becomes the "big bang" of the next universe, and when the smoke clears, we see Nova has been reborn, as that universe's Galactus.

Incidentally, back when I was first approached about Marvel's "The End" project, I was asked to think about "last issues" for the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. One of the things that occured to me was using this as a way to finally finish the Last Galactus Story. Goes like this:

One day, out of a clear blue sky, literally, Nova falls into the heart of Manahattan. The FF go to investigate. They find her, and after a bit of trouble deciphering what she is saying they realize she has come from billions of years in the future. Reed's "universal translator" was having problems with her speech because she was speaking English, but English distorted by billions of years. Anyway, she finally tells them what's going on with Galactus and the rogue Watcher, and the FF race off to use their captured version of Doctor Doom's time machine to speed to the future and try to help Galactus. (Reed, you see, being Reed, has already figured out what Galactus' purpose is in the scheme of things.)

Uh oh! Using Doom's time machine alerts the good Doctor to what they are up to, and he goes after them. Pretty quickly he figures out what is going on, and realizes this is a perfect opportunity to steal the power of Galactus for himself. The universe may die in the meanwhile? What cares he?

So, of course, the FF end up battling Doom, who is doing all kinds of things to try to get Galactus' power, while Galactus is busy himself dealing with the rogue Watcher. Finally the good guys -- which includes Galactus in this case -- win, But Ben and Nova both die heroically in the process. Galactus wonders what it was all about, what it was all for. Reed tells him. Galactus understands. The FF (what's left of them) start to head back to their time machine with Doom as their prisoner. Galactus calls after them. "Leave him!" Moment of tension, but Reed agrees. The FF return to the present, and just as they wink out they see Galactus open the seals on his armor and begin to release all his stored energy.

The three are back on Earth, in the present. They mourn Ben, but they resolve to continue to fight the good fight, in his honor. The Fantastic Four are no more, but the Three shall fight on! Sue wonders what Galactus wanted Doom for.

Cut to somewhere, somewhen else. Energies roil. A Universe is aborning, and at its heart we see a great cosmic "egg" akin to the one that once gave birth to Galactus. It opens, and Galactus rises from its midst -- but when he turns to us, we see he now has the face/mask of Doctor Doom. Like a certain other human we all know, Doom is about to learn that "with great power must come great responsibility'. (2/15/2005)